7/20/17 – The MLO Minute: Criminal Law, Cosby, & the Connection to McAndrews Law
The Expertise of MLO in Criminal Law Frequently Intersects With Other Practice Areas
Most of our clients are very familiar with our nationally recognized work in the fields of estate planning, special education, and higher education issues. At first blush, the extensive experience of several of our attorneys in criminal law might seem to have a modest connection to our work in these key practice areas. However, in our modern society, issues of criminal law unfortunately often connect closely with every area of legal practice, including those in which we specialize and have the most frequent public recognition. For example, our work in estate planning frequently overlaps with matters such as abuse of vulnerable populations, including the elderly, persons with disabilities, and other fragile individuals; in some cases, family members have issues with the criminal justice system which must be carefully considered in developing appropriate estate planning documents, guardianship petitions, and elder law plans. Our special education work on behalf of children with disabilities often involves cases where our clients are the victims of bullying, harassment, and physical assaults which require protection within the criminal justice system; in other circumstances, our clients may be involved in truancy proceedings due to a child’s inability to attend school or may have other contacts with the criminal justice system. Our work in representing individuals in university discipline matters – either victims or accused – often involve collateral activities by law enforcement which must be the subject of careful coordination and analysis during representing of these individuals in these administrative proceedings.
The background of our attorneys in the criminal justice system permits us to handle cases which intersect with this system with a broad range of experience and insights. For example, Joseph McGettigan was the First Assistant District Attorney in both Philadelphia and Delaware Counties, and is nationally known for his successful prosecutions of serial child abuser Jerry Sandusky and millionaire murderer John Eleuthere DuPont. Dennis McAndrews was a Special Prosecutor in the duPont murder trial, and served for over 17 years as a prosecutor in Delaware and Philadelphia Counties. Jennifer Bradley and Michael Gehring had significant, distinguished careers as prosecutors in Pennsylvania, and many of our other attorneys have addressed criminal law matters collateral to representation of our clients in our areas of expertise.
These extensive backgrounds in the criminal justice system recently led the national news media to request daily commentary from Dennis McAndrews and Joseph McGettigan during the recent criminal prosecution of comedian, actor and entertainer Bill Cosby. Dennis and Joe were featured in such national outlets as NBC, CBS, NPR, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, and many others, including local broadcast news outlets from Philadelphia, Lancaster, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, and the Lehigh Valley.
Our full library of these interviews can be found by clicking here.
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